Why don't back holes decrease in mass as you add things?

In summary, Hawking radiation is caused by virtual particle-pairs that come into existence when a black hole shrinks. As the particles get closer to the black hole their energy gets negative, and this decreases the mass of the black hole.
  • #1
Psip
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In hawking radiation a black hole decreases in mass and is described by E= mc^2-GMm/r and as r gets closer to zero the energy of the particle that enters becomes negative and takes away from the net energy of the black hole. My question is why does this only apply to these particles that pop out of the vacuum and not every particle that falls into the black hole. I realize though that this would violate conservation of energy if everything that fell in made the energy go down.
 
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  • #2
Psip said:
In hawking radiation a black hole decreases in mass and is described by E= mc^2-GMm/r and as r gets closer to zero the energy of the particle that enters becomes negative and takes away from the net energy of the black hole. My question is why does this only apply to these particles that pop out of the vacuum and not every particle that falls into the black hole. I realize though that this would violate conservation of energy if everything that fell in made the energy go down.
I don't have a solid answer for you and there are others here who will, but I would give you one piece of information that might help. The whole concept of Hawking Radiation being due to virtual particle-pairs is a pop-science type description which was put forth by Hawking himself because, as he said, he just wasn't able to think of any other way to translate the math into English.
 
  • #3
Psip said:
In hawking radiation a black hole decreases in mass and is described by E= mc^2-GMm/r and as r gets closer to zero the energy of the particle that enters becomes negative and takes away from the net energy of the black hole. My question is why does this only apply to these particles that pop out of the vacuum and not every particle that falls into the black hole. I realize though that this would violate conservation of energy if everything that fell in made the energy go down.
As you said, that would violate energy conservation, which is the answer to your question. In the case of Hawking radiation the energy is however conserved because the particles are created in pairs, one with positive energy going outside and another with negative energy going inside, so that their total energy is zero.

But negativity of energy is not directly related to the fact that mc^2-GMm/r is negative for small r. The origin of negative energies is different.
 
  • #4
Thanks for the replies. I got an answer from somewhere else and apparently total energy would be E=mc^2-GMm/r+1/2mv^2 so when particles come in from far away they will have positive energy. So things really need to be made on the edge of the event horizon. However, would the star junk near the center of mass right before collapse be able to initially be close enough to still have negative energy?
 

FAQ: Why don't back holes decrease in mass as you add things?

What is a black hole?

A black hole is a region in space where the gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, including light, can escape from it. It is formed when a massive star collapses in on itself.

Why don't black holes decrease in mass as you add things?

Black holes are known to continuously grow in mass as they consume matter and energy from their surroundings. However, this does not mean that they do not lose mass. Black holes can also lose mass through a process called Hawking radiation, where particles are emitted from the event horizon, causing the black hole to shrink over time.

What happens to the mass of objects that enter a black hole?

When an object enters a black hole, its mass is added to the overall mass of the black hole. This is because the black hole's gravitational pull is so strong that it pulls the object into its center, known as the singularity.

Do black holes have a maximum mass limit?

There is currently no known maximum mass limit for black holes. However, the larger a black hole becomes, the slower it will grow as it consumes matter and energy from its surroundings. This is because the gravitational pull of a larger black hole is not as strong as a smaller one.

Is it possible to destroy a black hole?

It is currently not possible to destroy a black hole. Even if all the matter and energy inside a black hole were to somehow be removed, it would still exist due to its immense gravitational pull. However, it is possible for a black hole to evaporate over time through Hawking radiation.

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